Neil Taylor

EnviroSource, Co-founder

Rachel Thorpe

AECOM, President of Parks & Leisure Australia, Western Australia

Vanessa Trowell

Archikidz, Director

Paul Barber

ArborCarbon, Founder/Director

Based in Perth, Dr. Paul Barber is an expert in the diagnosis and management of tree health disorders in urban, plantation and native forests worldwide.

Paul’s work is all about ensuring the health and functioning of urban forests. To him, this means giving due consideration to plant pathology, taxonomy, mycology, climate modelling, remote sensing, landscape ecology, eco-hydrology, plant physiology, soil science, and restoration ecology. What this means is that he is thinking about the health of urban forests now and well into the future, under what are likely to be very different conditions.

In addition to his very hands-on approach to understanding tree health and their importance to the environment, Paul and his team at ArborCarbon also produce leading work on canopy mapping that brings together complex datasets, mapping and survey information into one software-based system that can easily interpret vegetation, community structure and conditions.

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Daniel Bennett

Design and Urban Transport at the City of Adelaide, Landscape Architect and Program Manager

Daniel is a landscape architect with over 18 years experience shaping better projects for our cities. Originally from Sydney, he has worked across Australia, Scotland, England, Wales and China. He is currently Adelaide City Council’s Landscape Architect and Associate Director for the City’s Design and Strategy, as well as a Director and National President of the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects.

Daniel is very good at working to incorporate living infrastructure as part of new major infrastructure projects. Daniel led the urban design team for the $2.2bn Sydney Light Rail project, the Capital Metro Light Rail Feasibility Study in Canberra and is leading the study for the City of Sydney into people and light rail safety as part of the George Street revolution.

Daniel’s work in landscape architecture and urban design spans all levels of government and is having excellent results in Adelaide, where he is engaging at the highest level with State Government agencies across a range of projects including Smart Move 2012-2022 and the Adelaide Design Manual.

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James Bentley

National Australia Bank, Manager Natural Value

One may well ask ‘what is a green space person doing working at a bank?’ Simply put, it’s about understanding risk and opportunity.

James’s role at NAB is to elevate the tangible values of natural capital into the way NAB does business. Natural capital describes all the earth’s living things, the ecosystems that support them and the valuable services they deliver like clean air, water, food and fibre. To NAB natural capital underpins our economy, however because it often isn't traded in markets it is considered invisible.

To James, it is still incredibly important that decisions account for the impact on our natural capital. NAB customers, particularly those in agriculture, who invest in natural capital are more resilient and profitable over time. James' role is in understanding the benefits of natural capital for customers and ensuring NAB's decisions support them to invest in building natural capital. This includes everything from access to clean water, pollination by bees, waste systems, and resilience of cities.

Over the coming years, NAB will work closely with industry leaders and their customers to increase resilience, by accounting for the availability of clean water, investing in biodiversity, and putting a value on conservation.

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James Bichard

Molonglo Group, Development Manager

Over the last couple of years, Canberra has become kinda cool – and not in a chilly August morning kind of way. One contributing factor to this is the activation of the NewActon precinct in which James Bichard, as Development Manager for the Molonglo Group, has played a key role.

Beyond the international recognition for excellence that the Nishi Building and Hotel have received for sustainability and design, the incorporation of green space into the precinct has been widely praised.

A generous provision of green space through canopy coverage and mature trees, community gardens and lawns adorn the precinct. James worked hard to ensure an enormous vertical garden, that sprawls the eleven storeys of the Nishi Building, was integrated into the architecture; to bring bio-diversity adjacent to the office staff working above.

Combined with this, James and the Molonglo Group’s commitment to collaboration between architects, landscape architects, local craftspeople, artists, government and the community has resulted in a much-loved public asset on what is ultimately private land.

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Jason Byrne

Griffith School of Environment, Associate Professor

Dr Jason Byrne MPIA (@CityByrne) is an internationally recognized Associate Professor of Urban and Environmental Planning in Griffith University’s School of Environment (Gold Coast, Australia). A geographer and planner, Jason’s research addresses: urban political ecologies of green-space, climate change adaptation, and environmental justice. He has over 100 scholarly publications, including a multi-award-winning co-edited book Australian Environmental Planning: Challenges and Future Prospects. Jason has collaborated on international research projects investigating obesogenic urban environments (USA) and park ecosystem services (China) among others. Jason previously worked as a planning officer, environmental officer and policy writer with the Western Australian government.

Jason is an expert in urban green space; parks; green infrastructure; environmental justice; political ecology; urban planning and believes his greatest challenge is enabling decision-makers to see the importance of adapting cities to climate change as a matter of urgency

Sacha Coles

Aspect Studio , Principal

When Sacha is around the mere mention of plants and trees in cities, this elicits a tremor of excitement. With a real passion for creating more and better green space to re-imagine the way in which we live and work for the better, it comes as no surprise that he is Director at a design practice that now has Studios in Australia and abroad and employs more than 150 people.

Sacha’s success is for good reason. ASPECT Studios’ rigorous design methodology, coupled with their creativity in green space design has resulted in some of Australia’s most-loved and innovative public spaces such as The Goods Line, Darling Quarter, One Central Park, and City Quarter at Victoria Harbour.Sacha’s influence in the green infrastructure sector stems not only from his creative leadership and excellent design sense, but also in the way in which he openly welcomes and encourages collaboration among varying disciplines, agencies and sectors.

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Tony Cox

Clouston Associates, Director

Tony’s work as a Landscape Architect has found him working from CLOUSTON’s Darwin office for the last 24 years. In this time, he has played a significant role in various planning and design projects across some of the most diverse and challenging landscapes throughout northern and central Australia and South-East Asia.

Tony has been recognised for his work as part of several awards for projects such as the Darwin CBD Master Plan, the West Kimberley Regional Prison and the Darwin Entertainment Centre. These accolades are due, in part, to his care in understanding the culture of a place and local language and also his design integrity that creates social and environmental outcomes.

Most recently, Tony and his team were awarded the Jury’s Prize for the My Park Rules competition. The award recognised the design’s capacity to not only re-imagine a school for people returning to finish their secondary education as a space full of plants and trees, but also for its reflection on the social significance. The school park was designed to build capacity among students and the community in a holistic and thoughtful way.

This work is an example of the office’s dedication to many years of voluntary work with numerous schools, community and environment groups.

Matthew Daniel

Tree Preservation Australia, Arboriculture Partner

With 20 years' global experience in Arboriculture, Matthew is a leading expert in the field of organic, ecological sustainable plant health care. Matthew has developed an integrated approach through training and experience to understand how to better manage urban trees including improving their health, performance, life expectancy and recovery from damage/sickness/toxic environments.

As an arborist Matthew was invited, under a USA science visa, to participate in a skill share program on Plant Health Care in Boston. He has presented at national and international forums and initiatives leading a focus on soil and plant health as an integral part of urban forestry. In addition, Matthew is a consultant in the field of soil biology and has applied this knowledge and experience to Arboriculture. He is a passionate advocate for developing urban forests based on scientific principles and thorough data collection.

Matthew is a Directing Partner of Tree Preservation Australia and is currently working collaboratively on an international global research project into soil health and measuring plant function.

Fiona is an expert in residential landscape projects and is interested in creating outdoor spaces to improve family & community social connectivity, health and wellbeing. Her greatest challenge is making the allocated landscape space bigger and is currently working on projects in Redfern and Palm Beach.

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Xiaoqi Feng

Universty of Wollongong , Doctor

Unless you have a PhD in epidemiology, it’s unlikely that the first thing you think of when it comes to trees and plants is mental health and diabetes prevention – but this is not the case for Dr Xiaoqi Feng.

Dr Feng’s research draws on a range of disciplines including public health, geography and economics to understand what helps keep people healthy and out of hospital.

Her research involves mapping the availability of green spaces and other environmental factors to explore how where we live promotes health and wellbeing among children, adults and seniors.

Dr Feng’s research also provides valuable insights into the vital features needed in all neighbourhoods to promote a healthier, fairer and happier Australia.

Jock Gammon

Junglefy, Co-founder and Managing Director

Trained as a horticulturist with studies in Environmental Science, Jock loves plants and understands how to ensure their survival in Australian urban environments and their power at making cites more liveable. As the Managing Director of Junglefy, he works closely with clients to ensure that living infrastructure projects can be realised in a cost effective and low risk manner.

Being a natural innovator, Jock developed the award-winning ‘Junglefy Breathing Wall’, an active green wall system, scientifically proven to accelerate the removal of air pollutants, volatile organic compounds and particulate matter. Jock continues to challenge the status quo, through investing in research and the science behind the Junglefy Breathing Wall and other new technologies. His desire to create a better place for future generations is helping to shape the living infrastructure market both locally and globally.

Jock is an expert in living infrastructure projects and is interested in using research and the biological power of plants to enhance our cities.

Jock and the Junglefy team are currently working on the world's first Breathing Wall car park.

Dr. Jenni Garden

Seed Consulting Services, Senior Environmental Consultant

Dr. Jenni Garden specialises in urban ecology, landscape ecology, and climate change ecology. Her current projects with land managers and planners include: green infrastructure mapping, monitoring and valuation, application of i-Tree tools and GIS, biodiversity assessments, development of strategic plans, and community engagement.

In all work projects, Jenni strives to facilitate strategic decision-making underpinned by leading science and innovative solutions to create more liveable cities for people and the environment. Her greatest challenge is helping to strike a better balance between environmental, urban development, and social health and well-being requirements. Jenni is currently working with a number of local councils around Australia on various green space and spatial analyses, strategy development, and community engagement projects.

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Scott Glassborow

City of Belmont, Environmental Officer

Based in the City of Belmont, one of Perth’s most rapidly growing urban council areas, Scott Glassborow is working hard to ensure that the increased density does not come at the cost of liveability and living infrastructure.

For the past few years Scott and an Urban Forest working group have been collaborating closely within council bodies to build the case for urban forestry efforts internally and within the wider community. Managing significant but competing priorities for use of space, including access to housing for a growing population, community lifestyle values and rapid development, the team has worked hard to formalise the advancement and increase in canopy cover within the City’s municipal area.

Through using a range of mapping techniques, engagement and excellent communication, the need for the Urban Forest Strategy and value of a thriving urban forest has been clearly articulated. This has focused on supporting the livelihoods, lifestyles and health of the City’s diverse community.

Since the Urban Forestry Strategy was endorsed by the City of Belmont, the City has been generous and enthusiastic about sharing their knowledge with other local council staff, which has in turn contributed to a growing movement toward green infrastructure in Perth.

Jen Guice

Senior Project Manager, Community Consultation, City of Sydney

Jen Guice has spent a couple of decades fighting the good fight for environmental justice. Her work at Penrith City Council in developing the Cooling the City Strategy in 2015 was seminal. Working on an extremely tight budget, Jen and her team were incredibly savvy in terms of how they acquired and translated data, understood and communicated the concerns of their local community, and created a plan that is smart, achievable, widely supported and working to make Western Sydney a better place to live.

Currently Jen is working for the City of Sydney where she has harnessed her people skills as Senior Project Manager, Community Consultation. Key to her portfolio of engagement projects are the City’s environmental and sustainability strategies, including the Urban Forest Strategy. Jen is helping to develop relationships, build understanding across the organisation, and create new ways to communicate the complexities of urban forest management in a big city to increase and improve green infrastructure. Whether she is in the city or out west, Jen’s passion for making city’s cool and green is inspirational.

Greg Ingleton

SA Water, Manager of Environmental Opportunities

Greg Ingleton is a SA Water veteran, having spent over 16 years working in his expertise of liveability, recycled water, heat reduction strategies, managed aquifer recharge and agriculture.

He is SA Water’sManager of Environmental Opportunities, delving into the different economic opportunities that can be fleshed out in a sustainable and efficient operation, relating to water. He is currently heading projects that look to improve the financialoutcomes and communityperception of green public and private open space, including our very own backyards.

All around Adelaide, Greg puts his efforts intoachieving his vision of ensuring our way of life is sustainable and resilient in today’s warming world. By simplifying what it means to create ‘change’ for everyone to understand, he challenges himself to combat society's old-school thinking and to spread the word of sustainability.

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Roger Jones

Victoria University , Professor

Professor Roger Jones is a Professorial Research Fellow at the Centre for Strategic Economic Studies (CSES) at Victoria University. Prof Roger Jones joined VU in early 2009 and is trained as a physical scientist. He now applies an interdisciplinary focus to understanding climate change risk, bridging science, economics and policy.

Over the past decade, Prof Roger Jones has been the driving force in the application of risk methods to climate change impact and adaptation assessment, and he continues to lead that area.

More recently, Prof Roger Jones has contributed his scientific and economic understanding to an excellent piece of work alongside Celeste Young and John Symons called the Economic Framework for Green Infrastructure. This is a practical framework that helps to value green infrastructure and integrate it into day-to-day operational decision-making, as well as provide practical economic methods and approaches to assist practitioners to value and evaluate green infrastructure.

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Danielle King

Green Moves Aust, Director & Sustainability Consultant

Danielle is the Director & Sustainability Consultant at Green Moves Australia and the Green Building Institute. Her expertise is in sustainability governance, resource efficiency, economic and social conscience, and the built environment. She is interested in working with organisations and individuals looking to be the best they can be. Her greatest challenge is engaging with the ‘environmentally disengaged’ and assisting them on their journey to the green side.

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Scott Ludlum

WA Greens , Senator

Australian Greens Senator Scott Ludlam was first elected to Federal Parliament in November 2007. Scott has spent much of his time as a Senator championing the planning and development of sustainable, connected, healthy and liveable cities.

In 2014, his work won the Planning Institute of Australia’s (PIA) National Planning Champion award, which recognises innovation and excellence in Australia’s urban landscape.

Most recently he launched the Greens’ Urban Forest Plan for Perth. Developed in close consultation with Aboriginal elder Dr. Noel Nannup, this plan knits together the biodiversity and cultural fabric of Perth city. The strategy also proposes dedicated funding to provide the missing link in our infrastructure and planning systems - a network of protected bushland, greenways, parklands and green streetscapes that everyone can access and enjoy.

Yvonne Lynch

Future Melbourne , Team Leader

Yvonne is an urban climate change strategist and communications expert. She has recently been appointed as Team Leader for Future Melbourne. Prior to that, she led City of Melbourne’s multidisciplinary Urban Forest & Ecology Team.

The work of the team under Yvonne’s leadership has been recognised and awarded nationally and internationally for its progressive approach to urban forestry, climate adaptation to cool the city by 4°C and citizen participation. A core component of Yvonne’s work is focused on combining cutting edge research with civic engagement, in order to develop innovative and beneficial solutions and strategies for the City’s future.

She has led some of the City’s most progressive environmental policies and initiatives on climate change adaptation, urban ecology, urban forestry, sustainable buildings and initiating Melbourne's first urban BioBlitz.

Yvonne’s most innovative initiatives include Melbourne’s urban forest visual, which enables the community to ‘email a tree’. The Integrated Climate Adaptation Model for Melbourne is a digital decision making tool designed in collaboration with University of Melbourne, and the Economic Framework for Green Infrastructure produced in collaboration with Victoria University.

Dr Tony Matthews

Dr Tony Matthews is a Senior Lecturer in Urban & Environmental Planning at Griffith University in Brisbane, Queensland.

Dr Matthews is an expert at urban planning; green infrastructure; urban greening; climate change adaptation and low carbon transitions. He is interested in embedding urban greenery in the urban planning toolkit to reuce urban heat and air pollution while improving human health and finds his greatest challenge in slowing down.

He is currently working on research connecting social policy and urban planning for a low-carbon future (ARC DP160102526).

Tanya McKenna

360 Environmental , Senior Environmental Consultant

Tanya is an expert in sustainability, green infrastructure, biophilic urban design and environmental management. She is currently the Senior Environmental Consultant at 360 Environmental. Her interests are green infrastructure and biophilic design, urban renewal and liveability in the urban space and sustainable tourism.

The greatest challenge and most rewarding project that Tanya has been a part of is the completion of the #natureinspiredecohouse - a long-time vision and goal to build a sustainable residential home in inner city Perth. The house is centred around biophilic design, incorporating a green roof, renewable energy, recycled construction materials and eco interiors with an abundance of greenery into a liveable, sustainable, urban home. Completed with her sister and Architect, Carla Karsakis of Etica Studio, the design is based on Scandinavian and brutalist Brazilian architecture, inspired by extensive travel and their vision for green, sustainable futures utilising recycled and self-sourced materials wherever possible.

In her role at 360 Environmental Tanya is currently leading the direction of the City of Wanneroo's Local Biodiversity Strategy for 2017 to 2022 by prioritising the protection of biodiversity and urban green space through environmental planning processes.

Shahana McKenzie

Australian Institute of Landscape Architects, CEO

A little over three years in her role as CEO of the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects, Shahana McKenzie has transformed the organisation into a vocal, relevant, dextrous and influential force, for more and well-designed beloved living infrastructure. Under her leadership, AILA’s membership has doubled and its role in influencing policy and profile is evident.

Drawing on her extensive experience in the built environment sector, Shahana’s expertise in bringing people together to progress a common agenda is evident in the creation of the Living Cities Alliance, which brings together over 40 organisations in the living infrastructure sector to advocate to government in a united way.

Her role bringing the Institute to the fore, through campaigns and events such as the 2016 International Festival of Landscape Architecture, Living Cities Summit and My Park Rules national campaign, is testament to her passion for liveable cities and her determination to forge strong alliances and cooperation across a range of sectors for a common good.

Janine Mendel

Cultivart Landscape Design, Designer/Director

Janine is an expert in residential landscape design and specialises in compact gardens. She is interested in improving the green space and canopy cover in Perth and surrounds from the bottom up. That is: Consulting and designing residential gardens with the view of improving the streetscape, lowering the heat island effect and creating liveable, walkable streets, suburbs and cities. Encouraging my clients to recognise and value their innate connection with nature even in the smallest of spaces. Helping people to understand the aesthetic and restorative benefits of having plants and trees in their garden.

The greatest challenge she faces in her work is the lack of good urban planning and architecture in Perth coupled with the lacklustre efforts of local government and local councils to really ‘get it’.

Janine is always working on a constant stream of residential designs for both new and existing houses. She has designed more than 1500 WA gardens, many of which have won awards and been featured in magazines, online and in overseas publications.

Expertise areas:Residential landscape design, compact gardens

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Hamish Mitchell

Speciality Trees, Owner & Managing Director

Hamish is an expert in amenity horticulture, plant production and development, wholesale tree production, tree selection and consultation. In addition he is also qualified in Parks Management and Turf Management. The greatest challenge that Hamish faces is getting people on board with the one Green Industry vision and educating people on why they should plant more trees for community health and well-being.

He is currently working within the nursery on irrigation control efficiencies and outside of the nursery is an advisor to AS2303 and on the Industry Advisory Committee to Horticulture Innovation Australia Green Cities Project overseeing the ‘Plant What Where’ initiative.

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Cathy Oke

CAUL Hub , Knowledge Broker

Dr. Oke’s role as Knowledge Broker at the Clean Air and Urban Landscapes Research (CAUL) Hub, part of the National Environmental Science Programme, positions her as a keystone between Commonwealth Government funding, researchers, and people working toward better green space at a local level.

Research being undertaken by CAUL HUB is done so with a comprehensive view of whole city sustainability, including a focus on strong liveability outcomes. To help achieve this ambition, Cathy works with an interdisciplinary team that possess research, knowledge-translation and data sharing skills; covering the breadth of what makes cities work. One of Cathy’s tasks is to connect these capabilities with policy makers, industry and citizens.

Cathy just happens to also be a dedicated local government councillor for the City of Melbourne, using her ecological understanding of how to enhance livability in our urban environments in a well-researched and evidence-based way.

At the City of Melbourne, Cr Oke is Chair of the transport portfolio and Deputy Chair of the Environment portfolio, and represents Council on the Regional and Global committees of ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability.

Combining the theoretical with the practical, the federal with the local, Cathy plays a seminal role in bridging gaps to create a thorough, concerted and effective approach to overcoming the knowledge barriers that prevent more and better green space in our cities.

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Lisa Passmore

Inspired By Nature, Owner & Director

Lisa is a horticultural consultant, water wise and sustainable landscape designer. She is interested in sharing knowledge on better gardening practices with clients, garden clubs and garden design course attendees. Lisa's mission is to change peoples perceptions on trees and plants and have people view them more holistically, appreciating all their outputs and in the process, inspire them to plant more!. Lisa is also passionate about community gardening and empowering people of all ages to ‘have a go’ growing plants (both ornamental and edible) in their own gardens.

Lisa is currently working on a Landscape plan for a woman's refuge and another plan for a Meditation and Retreat Centre.

Mark Paul

The Greenwall Company, Horticulturist

Since childhood Mark has been passionate about greening cities and reclaiming the built environment one square meter at a time. Horticulturist and founder of The Green Wall Company, Mark created Australia's first green wall over 30 years ago – which is still living and breathing today. To date, Mark and his team have recovered thousands of sqm's in a number of countries as well as Australia but need the help and support of the 202020 Vision community to significantly increase the scale of works in the coming years that could truly make an impact on home soil.

Mark’s vision is to reducing cost, make cities more liveable and more sustainable while protecting biodiversity. He has travelled the world to see plant and ecology adaptions in habitats similar to city environments and learn from other countries policies and economic drivers that are leading the way in greening cities.He has also consulted for a number of city councils both in Australia and internationally and was most recently sought out to work on public works projects in San Francisco. He is also responsible for the school community PET Bottle Green wall Project which has the potential for a national roll out with the right support and funding. It is currently supported by the Australian Institute of Horticulture and Landcare Australia with pilot projects in Brazil and New Zealand.

Tina Perinotto

The Fifth Estate , Editor

As Founder, Publisher and Managing Editor of The Fifth Estate, Tina Perinotto continues to play a precious role in finding, interrogating and disseminating information about the built and living environment.

Since 2009, The Fifth Estate has become essential reading for business people, investors, designers, consultants, government officials and politicians working towards a more sustainable built environment.

She has also facilitated and spoken at a number of industry events, including most recently a recent presentation at University of Technology Sydney, a series of talks at University of Sydney. Furthermore, and in November Tina hosted a salon in London on climate bonds alongside Sean Kidney, CEO of the Climate Bonds Initiative, the UK Green Building Council and the Better Buildings Partnership. Attendees included Lloyds Bank and a representative of the UK Government’s urban regeneration finance unit.

Tina’s eye for news and dedicated following mean that she will continue to raise the profile and stature of living infrastructure for years to come.

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Lyndal Plant

Consultant, Urban Forester

For 25 years, Lyndal Plant worked in urban forest policy and planning for local government. During many of those years with the Brisbane City Council, she helped develop innovative partnership programs like “Neighbourhood Shadeways” and “Subtropical Boulevards”, functional tree canopy targets and “no net canopy area loss” policies.

Since leaving local government Lyndal has completed her doctorate in making stronger business cases for investing in urban trees. While houses in leafy streets have long been said to attract premium prices, measuring such premiums in dollar values and comparing them to costs of planting and maintaining street trees in Brisbane demonstrated good returns for a range of home-owners, local government tree owners and state government stamp duty collectors.

Combining these additional research skills with a passion for evidence based planning and management, Lyndal is now helping others shape their planning for multifunctional green infrastructure.

Grant Revell

University of Western Australia, Professor

While many landscape architects and green space thinkers reference legacy that dates back 100, maybe 200 years ago, Professor Grant Revell’s work is influenced by cultural practices and living heritage that dates back more than 40,000 years.

A champion of inter-disciplinary practice, Professor Revell has worked across the full range of the landscape architecture and architecture programs at The University of Western Australia since 1995.

His recent work in intercultural design thinking is ground-breaking and led to the creation of the Sustainable Warburton Project; a unique community-based interdisciplinary design studio program in collaboration with the communities of Ngaanyatjarraku and AECOM Australia Pty Ltd.

Now working from the School of Indigenous Studies as its Director of Learning and Teaching, Grant is overseeing the design and construction of the new Indigenous Studies building and co-managing its associated education programs, including the global engagement project with the Matariki University Network – an Indigenous educational collaborative of 7 leading Universities around the world. They begin their important inter-disciplinary work in Otago, New Zealand this coming June, 2016.

Grant was awarded national fellow of the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects in 2014 for his services to Indigenous design education and practice.

Grant’s work is inspiring a new collaborative approach to designing living infrastructure that builds on a great body of Indigenous knowledge, sharing and relationship building to create harmonious and holistic systems of design.

Dr. Sudipto Roy

Queensland University of Technology, Lecturer

Dr. Sudipto Roy is a lecturer, researcher and a practising architect - landscape architect with over 20 years experience. He is an Associate Fellow of UK’s Higher Education Academy, a registered landscape architect with the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects (AILA) and a registered architect with Council of Architecture (COA). As a master planner, landscape architect, architect and project manager he has worked with international, multi-disciplinary organisations across Australia, Asia, and the Middle East. As an academic and researcher in educational institutions across Australia and Asia he has coordinated landscape architecture programs, directed design studios, and extensively researched on landscape ecological issues. His research interests include green infrastructure, urban landscapes and urban trees, urban ecosystem services and disservices, sustainable landscape patterns, smart cities, regionally adaptive environmental design, resilient landscape design and therapeutic landscape design. Dr. Roy is currently working on building community resilience through innovative landscape design and pedagogies in Landscape Architecture teaching and learning. In addition Dr. Sudipto Roy is interested in Smart cities and smart systems as well as food security.

Mark Short

City of Bayswater, Consulting Arborist

I have been in the Horticultural/Arboricultural industry for 17 years, I have worked at Botanical Gardens in England, and various local Governments across Perth. I am currently working at the City of Bayswater as their in house Arborist, but also provide consultancy services privately to other Local Governments, developers and private residents.

My main focus at the moment is on Protection of trees on development sites and the provision of appropriate soil environments for new tree planting to reduce conflicts with infrastructure and to allow trees to grow to their full potential. The greatest challenge I face is convincing residents to want a tree on their verge!

Roderick Simpson

Greater Sydney Commission, Environment Commissioner

With Rod Simpson’s impressive design acumen and extensive experience in leading and progressive urbanism, his appointment as the inaugural Environment Commissioner, as part of the newly formed Greater Sydney Commission, came with little surprise.

Rod has the capacity to balance the practical and immediate planning needs across all levels of government. Starting studies in landscape architecture and his professional experience with the Total Environment Centre, Harry Howard and later Greenpeace for the Sydney Olympic Bid, Rod has set high aspirations for quality and environmental performance.

Combined with a concern for social equity and livability, his work has been widely recognised by urban design and planning awards both nationally and internationally.

Formerly Director of the Urban Design and Master of Urbanism Programs in the Faculty of Architecture, Design and Planning at the University of Sydney, Rod is also highly and widely regarded as an expert communicator and educator among scores of practitioners.Rod’s ability to navigate all levels of government and to entrench green space as part of future planning is evidenced by his leadership role in the urban design and spatial planning for the Sustainable Sydney 2030 plan.

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Clarence Slockee

Barangaroo Delivery Authority , Visitor Services

Clarence Slockee doesn’t just make you see the importance of plants and trees, he makes you feel it deep within you.

An Aboriginal man from the Mindjingbal clan of the Bundjalung tribe on the far north coast of NSW, Clarence comes from a strong lineage of bush men, farmers and fishermen. He combines his extensive knowledge of agricultural methods and permaculture principles with story-telling, art and culture to truly bring green spaces to life for everyone around him.

Clarence has worked as an environmental and cultural educator for more than 10 years at the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney and is now enriching the experiences of visitors to Sydney’s spectacular new headland park, Barangaroo Reserve.

He promotes Aboriginal culture and enables visitors to experience Indigenous plants, traditional stories and the cultural heritage of Aboriginal Australia. He is putting these talents to work as part of the Visitor Services team at the Barangaroo Delivery Authority, educating visitors about the site’s rich Aboriginal history and cultural significance.

Clarence inspires everyone, visitors and staff alike, with stories of the native plants, grasses and trees that have been reintroduced to the site to create Sydney’s only fully native public garden. Barangaroo Reserve opened in August 2015 and part of Clarence’s role is to ensure this new green space, on what was once a concrete container wharf, flourishes and endures. As he says, “seeing some of the ecology coming back is really promising, but until everything establishes itself it really needs to be nurtured”.

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Amanda Steele

CBRE, Managing Director, Asset Services

Amanda Steele is somewhat of a rock star among Australia’s sustainability set. Combining an incredible business acumen with a deep knowledge of sustainable practice and commercial property, she is constantly raising bar and benchmark for best practice.

Early in 2015, Amanda led CBRE – the world’s largest commercial property firm – to commit to a 20% increase in green space across all of their commercial buildings.

CBRE has already introduced hundreds of plants into its 21 offices across Australia and New Zealand, helping to purify the air and provide a more pleasing aesthetic to the workplace. But it's not just about that – Amanda recognises the productivity benefits, as it creates a happier and healthier workplace, which ultimately leads to a more financially prosperous and sustainable business.

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Neil Taylor

EnviroSource, Co-founder

Neil is an expert in ecological restoration, sustainability, collaboration and management systems. In addition to his expert areas, Neil is interested in systems thinking, nutrient-dense clean healthy food (production, preparing and eating) and world music. He finds the most challenging part of his work supporting and enhancing the capability of environment and sustainability practitioners. Neil is currently working on a Vine Weed Management Program for the SEQ Bioregion as well as producing content for EnviroSource.

Rachel Thorpe

AECOM, President of Parks & Leisure Australia, Western Australia

Above and beyond her day-to-day role as a Strategic Advisory Consultant for AECOM, Rachel provides a seminal role in facilitating, connecting and furthering the interests of the green infrastructure community throughout Perth and Western Australia.

As President of Parks & Leisure Australia, Western Australia, she is charged with leading advocacy for the health, social, environmental and economic benefits that increased quantity and quality parkland provides.

Importantly, Rachel is Chair for the Open Space Planners Network WA where she brings together more than 70 professionals, who are engaged in open space planning and who have influence over the development of local and state agendas in the public open space area.

Vanessa Trowell

Archikidz, Director

Vanessa believes that green public spaces are the life support of our cities. And she should know. After having worked in Edinburgh, London and LA she has chosen to pursue her passion for urban design here in Australia.

Formally trained in urban design and human geography and well-versed in landscape architecture, Vanessa fuses her trans-disciplinary knowledge to evolve the quality of public space in Australia.

Currently, her focus is on inspiring a new generation of city thinkers and urbanists as Director of Archikidz – an initiative designed to engage kids through participation, education and celebration, to enhance the inclusivity, sustainability and creativity of our cities.

Further to this, Vanessa tutors at the University of New South Wales in the Masters of Urban Development and Design Program, where she focuses on strategic and innovative design as a means by which to develop the next generation of urban designers entrusted to build the cities of the future.